Offseason Prospects Injury Update – Part One

February 9, 2024 Dave Funnell FantasyBaseball, General, MiLB 0

Andrew Painter, Reading Fightin' Phils, Dunkin' Park, Hartford, CT, September 3, 2022. Photo credit Scott Greene.
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One of the biggest pitfalls when playing fantasy baseball is when a player gets injured. A fantasy team can have all of the talent in the world on their roster, but if they’re not given the chance to produce on the field, they wind up being useless. That’s why knowing a player’s injury history can come in handy. Knowing what has happened in the past can aid in figuring out what to do in the future. Furthermore, how a player is recovering can give a fantasy owner an understanding of what lies ahead in a player’s future.

These next two articles will examine some prospects that have suffered an injury within the past year. Updates on their status will provide a bit of an outlook toward the future. Today, let’s look at some prospects who have yet to make it to the major leagues.

Zac Veen

Labeled as one of the best prospects in the Rockies’ farm system, Veen has seemingly struggled for quite a while at the plate. Both his final numbers for 2022 and 2023 are significantly lower than what he and the Rockies were used to seeing. It turns out that Veen had been suffering through a wrist injury since the 2022 All-Star Break, and needed a year for it to get to the point where it became an unplayable issue. This past summer, he received season-ending surgery.

Veen was shut down indefinitely as of June when the surgery took place. The hope was that he would be ready for Spring Training with an outside shot of making the big league team. The team anticipated him getting some at-bats to make up for lost time at the Arizona Fall League. While that didn’t happen, he did manage to get in some playing time. According to his Instagram account, Veen participated in the Puerto Rico Fall League. He finished with nine hits over 23 at-bats and stole three bases. While that’s a very small sample, it’s a great sign that this aforementioned surgery may have in fact fixed a long-standing issue. He is still highly regarded within the organization and should be a big part of the team’s future. It’s already been announced that he is a non-roster invitee to camp. The hope is that he can get back to his progress with a hopeful call-up at some point during the 2024 season.

Daniel Espino

Espino is one of the Guardians’ top prospects, but he has unfortunately seen a lot of time on the Injured List over the years. Since being drafted in 2019, the right-handed pitcher has thrown just 133.2 innings over three seasons due to various ailments. In 2022 he suffered through patellar tendinitis and a shoulder injury, which limited his output to a mere 18.1 innings of work. This season was even worse as he underwent surgery to repair the anterior capsule in that shoulder, and his timeline for a return was slated at twelve to fourteen months.

Since his surgery in May, Espino has been able to progress in his recovery. Back in July, he began doing upper-body training a mere two months after the operation. In December, he took to the field to begin a throwing program, that started with light tossing. A month later, the nature of that throwing intensified as video surfaced of him tossing balls from a longer distance at a much faster rate. There were even some suggestions of him being ahead of schedule, but that could be more speculative than anything.

All that being said, he is still a big part of the team’s future. The Guardians could have let Espino drop to the Rule 5 Draft but instead chose to keep him with the worry that another team would claim him. He has had a ton of injury problems over his short career, and at the age of 23, he will need to start showing the upside and potential that most people believe he has within him. While he likely won’t debut with Cleveland this season, a healthy 2024 could go a long way to seeing him with the Guardians in 2025.

Andrew Painter

At age 20, Painter is one of the best prospects in all of baseball. After a successful 2022 season where he dominated three minor league levels, he came into the Phillies’ camp and seemingly had a legitimate opportunity to make the Opening Day roster. He worked hard that offseason to add a new pitch to his already lethal repertoire. Then, after some soreness that wouldn’t go away, he was placed on the team’s 60-day Injured List in April with a proximal sprain in his UCL. There was a bleak outlook on his season until he started to play catch from varying distances, giving some hope that everything would be okay. After short bullpen sessions, it seemed that he was on the right track to a return, until some elbow stiffness returned, causing more concern within the organization. Finally, after months of back-and-forth speculation, the news was handed out that Painter would undergo Tommy John Surgery.

It was revealed in November that Painter has not had any setbacks and is on track with his recovery. It is not expected that he will pitch for the Phillies until 2025, so this year will be crucial for him to get back to where he needs to be. A typical timeframe for Tommy John Surgery is anywhere from 12-19 months, and it’s different for everyone involved. What’s important is that he can start tossing a baseball at some point soon. There haven’t been many updates over the last little while, but chances are that an on-track Painter will begin a throwing program soon. Once that happens, he will then be able to map out a potential road to recovery.

Quick Hits

Padres’ catcher phenom Ethan Salas seems to be fully recovered from the knee sprain that sidelined him late in the 2023 season. Salas is one of baseball’s top prospects and played through three minor league levels last season all by the age of seventeen…..Astros’ RHP Forrest Whitley is fully healthy and will report to Spring Training as a reliever. He has had a multitude of injuries over the years, but a switch to a relief role could help him stay on the field…..Twins’ RHP Matt Canterino has been healthy this off-season and is working hard to get back on the mound. In December of 2023, he threw to live hitters and was able to get his fastball up to 96 mph. It remains to be seen if he will be used as a starter or a reliever.

Dave Funnell

Dave Funnell covers the Minnesota Twins minor leagues for Prospects1500. Located just south of Toronto in the city of Hamilton, he's an hour away from Buffalo (and the Bisons). He's been a fan of baseball his entire life and doesn't have a favorite team, which hopefully gives way for objectivty in analysis. Dave is in multiple keeper fantasy baseball leagues and is active on Twitter at @sportz_nutt51.

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